Summer camp proves a hot ticket among young students

Chinese students are flocking to United Kingdom to learn and grow

On a warm summer day in the peaceful city of Cambridge, a group of teenage Chinese students are hosting a charity barbeque lunch to fundraise for East Anglia Children’s Hospice.

Big smiles appeared on their faces, as they saw weeks of preparation turn into a meaningful and enjoyable gathering, which also raised more than 1,000 pounds（$1,300）for the charity they together to support.

That scene took place in August last year at a summer camp hosted by Cambridge Centre for Languages. The program, spanning around a month, offered students intensive training in English and understanding of British culture. Daily academic lessons are balanced with fun activities including dancing, singing, sports activities and weekend trips to famous British attractions.

“We craft the program to give students an authentic glimpse into the quintessential British culture, which is rich in history, arts, culture literature, technology, and a lot more,”said Laura Chen, principal of Cambridge Centre for Languages.

For Chinese students, such experience-based summer camps are a welcome break from their heavy academic burden and exam results-driven classes at home. Many are also for the first time encountering tasks that enhances social skills, creativity and teamwork skills. Organizing a charity lunch is one such example.

Many Chinese students are away from home for the first time, and the experience of taking care of their own schedules, food, laundry and other life details in an unfamiliar country while also being on a foreign language atmosphere is quite a coming-of-age experience.

“The kids come home transformed,”said Qian Jingjing, head teacher of Wuhan Foreign Languages School, which sends secondary school children to the UK, US, Japan, France and Germany every year.

“90 percent of our parents tell us that their children become more grateful for their parents’love and care. They realize that no matter how much their homestay parents love them, it is only their own parents would bother to cook them a bowl of egg noodles in the middle of the night when they say they are hungry,”Qian said.

In recent years, overseas summer study camps have become very popular among Chinese students. In July and August, crowds of Chinese students can be seen gathering at popular tourist attractions, including the likes of the British Museum, the Tower of London, the Palaces of Westminster and the Globe Theatre.

Such a trend is perhaps not surprising considering that the UK and the US are the top two most popular summer camp destinations, together hosting around 60 percent of outbound Chinese students, according to estimates by New Oriental Education & Technology Group.